This invention generally relates to towable machines, and more particularly to an improved towing assembly for a towable machine.
To date, two-wheeled trailer assemblies for portable machines, such as but not limited to portable air compressors, have used either a straight or A-frame type drawbar rigidly attached to a trailer assembly frame. (Typically, such a drawbar is either welded or bolted to such a trailer assembly frame.) Present towable, portable air compressors employ a trailer assembly frame, a drawbar rigidly mounted thereto, and a running gear which together function as a two-wheeled trailer assembly therefor. Usually, when such a portable air compressor is shipped from a manufacturing site to a predetermined destination, such as a distribution site, a flatbed trailer truck is employed.
It has been discovered that the present design of such trailer assemblies unnecessarily limits the number of portable air compressors, or other type portable machines employing similar trailer assemblies, which can be shipped by a single flatbed trailer truck. The drawbar assembly of present portable compressors comprises about 1/3 the total length of the portable air compressor. Such a drawbar design "wastes" significant "shipping space", which, of course, increases the shipping costs associated with the transportation of such portable air compressors to the predetermined destination.
In the past, methods have been employed to lessen the drawbar's cost impact. Such methods have included "nesting" one drawbar under an adjacent portable compressor situated on the flatbed trailer truck, or removing, if possible, the drawbar and loading the portable compressors in relative close proximity, next to each other. The first method requires the units to be loaded end to end and offers only a minimal improvement to the amount of shipping space "wasted" by the drawbar design. The second method increases the number of portable compressors which can be shipped by a single flatbed trailer truck, however, additional costly labor is required to dis-assemble/re-assemble the drawbar. A similar "space" problem occurs at a destination site where a plurality of such portable compressors are to be stored, i.e. the drawbar design "wastes" valuable space.
The foregoing illustrates limitations known to exist in present trailer assemblies for portable machines. Thus, it is apparent that it would be advantageous to provide an alternative directed to overcoming one or more of the limitations set forth above. Accordingly, a suitable alternative is provided including features more fully disclosed hereinafter.